Mashile is a close friend of deputy president David Mabuza and has been receiving lucrative tenders for more than 10 years but now the departments have cut ties with him.
Bushbuckridge businessman Mathatha Mashile’s woes look far from being over as his security guards downed tools today over non-payment of salaries.
The guards on Monday 20 June 2022 blocked the entrance to the Bethal hospital, preventing patients from receiving treatment.
They accuse Mashile of failing to pay them their May salaries after the Mpumalanga government cut ties with his companies.
The government stopped Mashile’s contracts with the Mpumalanga department of health and as a result he failed to pay them.
A worker who spoke to 013NEWS said they work for Mashile’s companies called Blue Lion Security, African Renaissance and ‘Scared’ security, which has lucrative tenders with atleast three departments – health, education and safety & security.
Factional battles in the Mpumalanga ANC have led to Mashile, who is a close friend of deputy president David Mabuza, losing major work as the new leadership pushes its allies into key government work.
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The workers Monday protested over non-payment of wages for the month of May 2022.
“We feel that he is not going to pay us this month as well and it’s the reason we have taken a decision to express our cries,” one of the security guards at Bethal hospital told the 013NEWS reporter over the phone.
Mashile is a rich tenderpreneur from Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, whose company in 2016 was reported as being one of those that had been continuously flouting tender processes, causing the Mpumalanga government a loss of R4-billion in irregular expenditure.
He also owns eSwatini’s Premier League football team, Manzini Wanderers and here at home he owns the ABC Motsepe League outfit called Acornbush United.
Last week he threatened he would go to court and expose how a new grouping led by EFF provincial chairperson Collen Sedibe is getting lucrative tenders in the province while having no experience in business.
He said his companies have been pushed out, while new companies without work experience have been put in.
But Sedibe denied this, saying Mashile is a liar and a bitter man who refuses to accept that things are “changing” in the province now that Mabuza has left Mpumalanga to become deputy president.
Sedibe claimed all of Mashile companies are not owned by him – that he uses his siblings to front with in the companies he uses to trade with government.
This is allegedly because he owes SARS millions of rands and has resorted to registering new companies in the names of his siblings.
“One of the companies for example, Blue Lion Security, is owned by his 30 year old brother called Jael Mashile,” one of the sources said, adding that the Mpumalanga government has stopped paying this company “because there are outstanding issues which he must fix before they pay”.
This is a developing story.
(edited by MLM)
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